Accused’s kin say they are prepared to face the worst

"We're ready to die if this helps the rape survivor… but her honour cannot be restored. As young sisters, we feel ashamed," said the 15-year-old sister of Vinay Sharma, one of the men who brutalised a 23-year-old girl inside a moving bus on Sunday.

Quite aware of the consequences that the gory crime her gym instructor brother has committed, she said, "Let all the accused pay for the brutality they resorted to. We're preparing for the worst."

When told that Vinay has confessed to beating up the survivor's male friend and wanted to be hanged, his second sister, 14, said, "We're not thinking much ahead. We're now dying every moment because of guilt and shame."

"Vinay's father works as a construction worker. I thought when my son grew up, he would take care of the family," said mother Champa before breaking down at her Ravidas camp slum cluster home in RK Puram, Sector 3. "I am also a daughter. I know the pain," she said.

While Ram Singh, the bus driver, was on Tuesday sent to five-day police custody, his brother Mukesh was on Wednesday sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Along with Vinay, another accused Pawan Gupta alias Kalu was sent to four-day police custody.

Kalu's parents — Hira Lal and Indira Devi — on Wednesday went about selling fruits in the sector 1 market of RK Puram. "Kalu has three sisters. We're in talks with a family for the marriage of one of our daughters. Everything has been destroyed now," they said. Also a fruit seller, Kalu has confessed to the crime in court.

Asha, wife of Ram Singh's brother Raju, said, "My husband works as an electrician but he has been detained for living in the close proximity."

"While Ram Singh and Mukesh have been arrested, their another brother, Suresh, who works as a driver in Saket, has not been touched," she said. She has asked her two sons —Deepak, 14 and Akash, 12 — to stay off the media.